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Refrigeration

HI Brewers:

In the last months I get lot's of request about how to size a cooling unit for Fermenters, room cooling (I assume aging room) in Pubbreweries.
Anybody outthere who can post some basic calculations, so that visitors to Probrewer.com have a start in looking at equipment?

A practical rule of thumb: Buy a glycol chiller sized at one ton of cooling per every barrel of brewhouse size. 15 Barrel Brewhouse = 15 Ton Chiller. If you ran a cooler box cooler with a glycol coil that should cover it also.

That is over generalizing because actual cooling requirements vary with each brewery depending on how many tanks they have, and other requirements.

I've seen the general rule hold up very well in many breweries though.

What???

15 tons? that chiller is the size of a chevette! How about more like 7 to 10 for a 15BBL....and that's with tons of cooling to spare.

I will pull the exact calculations, but I have been running a 10bbl with about 5 tons with no problem. The real issue is what are you cooling? If you're just cooling FV's you won't need as much as if you are also cooling the second stage of a 2-stage heat exchanger.

Yeah, Larry you're right, especially in a Brewpub with 1-3 fermentors and a cold box for the bright beer tanks. 15 tons is overkill. It was a generaliztion and I framed the question with a multi tank packaging microbrewery instead of a pub. So I would agree a 10ton would be better.

Generalizations are all you can expect without more information. How many tanks of what size are you cooling? How many jackets of what size? How much insulation? Crashing to what temperature? What is your fermentation profile--2 days or 10 days? How often do you brew? Are you crashing more than one tank at a time? Using bare PVC glycol piping or insulated copper clad in a PVC jacket? What is the ambient temperature (climiate)? Will you have a cooled glycol reservior? Do you use the glycol as coolant for a second stage heat exchanger? Using the same glycol for a cold room? Any plans for additional future cooling capacity? So many things to consider that a rule of thumb is all you can get without details of the particular installation. Then again, more cooling capacity is better than less. Aim high and let the equipment work less. The manufacturers of the equipment might be the best source of information. Wish I could help more. Cheers!